ESO: Potentially Habitable Worlds Found Around Nearby Star
Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 4:55 pm
Three Potentially Habitable Worlds Found Around Nearby Ultracool Dwarf Star
ESO Science Release | La Silla | TRAPPIST | 2016 May 02
Scientists Discover Potentially Habitable Planets
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2016 May 02
Promising Worlds Found Around Nearby Ultra-cool Dwarf Star
NASA | 2016 May 02
Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star - Michaël Gillon et al
ESO Science Release | La Silla | TRAPPIST | 2016 May 02
Astronomers using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory have discovered three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth. These worlds have sizes and temperatures similar to those of Venus and Earth and are the best targets found so far for the search for life outside the Solar System. They are the first planets ever discovered around such a tiny and dim star. ...
A team of astronomers led by Michaël Gillon, of the Institut d’Astrophysique et Géophysique at the University of Liège in Belgium, have used the Belgian TRAPPIST telescope [1] to observe the star 2MASS J23062928-0502285, now also known as TRAPPIST-1. They found that this dim and cool star faded slightly at regular intervals, indicating that several objects were passing between the star and the Earth [2]. Detailed analysis showed that three planets with similar sizes to the Earth were present.
TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf star — it is much cooler and redder than the Sun and barely larger than Jupiter. Such stars are both very common in the Milky Way and very long-lived, but this is the first time that planets have been found around one of them. Despite being so close to the Earth, this star is too dim and too red to be seen with the naked eye or even visually with a large amateur telescope. It lies in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Carrier). ...
Scientists Discover Potentially Habitable Planets
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2016 May 02
Just 40 light years from Earth, planets are best targets so far for search for extraterrestrial life.
Promising Worlds Found Around Nearby Ultra-cool Dwarf Star
NASA | 2016 May 02
Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star - Michaël Gillon et al
- Nature (online 02 May 2016) DOI: 10.1038/nature17448 (pdf)
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1605.07211 > 23 May 2016